One common problem that many people face today, regardless of their religious beliefs or lack thereof, is how to be a good parent. I think this is quite understandable since, unlike many species, we don’t seem to have a full set of “parental instincts” built into our biology. Sure, you might have to carry around a flour sack for a week in high school or have a brief introduction to developmental psychology in an introductory psychology course, but very few of us have direct instruction in how to be a good parent.

Actress extraordinaire Sarah Michelle Geller, most well-known to geeks around the world as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is taking on a new foe: vaccine deniers. In a recent interview, she express her support for the Sounds of Pertussis campaign to raise awareness of why vaccinations for whooping cough are crucial for both adults and children.

One of the most dangerous and irresponsible non-scientific mindsets of the last 15 years is the anti-vaccination movement. It can be directly linked to dozens of deaths and thousands of unneeded illnesses. One of the more frequent ant-vaxxer refrains of the past decade has been that giving the standard US vaccination schedule exposes young ones to too many vaccines/antigens/whatevers too early in life.

Earlier today, Moore and south Oklahoma City were hit with an absolutely devastating tornado that appears as if it will eclipse the infamous May 3rd, 1999 storms as the worst to ever hit Oklahoma. While tornadoes are not exactly rare in Oklahoma (we have more per square mile than anywhere else on earth), this particular one destroyed multiple schools and carved it’s way right through a major city.

In any reasonable library or bookstore, an adult can walk in and find numerous books that allow him or her to learn about evolutionary theory to their heart’s content. Adults can even turn on their television or computer and find loads of documentaries on the subject if they don’t want to read about it. But where can children learn about evolution, especially as the teaching of it is still so (ridiculously) controversial?

My fellow SINner Russell Blackford has put up a post called “Down syndrome, disability, academic freedom” that he is getting a lot of flack about.
In it, he defended the rights of Professor D Gareth Jones of Otago University to publish an academic paper called “Testing times: do new prenatal tests signal the end of Down syndrome?” In this open-access article, Professor Jones and his co-author (a student) discuss the current state of prenatal screening for Down Syndrome (DS) in New Zealand and possible implications.